Busted! The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters

By knowing and exercising your rights, you become a better citizen. In addition, you’ll be more prepared to balance the power between yourself and police, who often try to get you to wave your rights.

Although you’re generally better off respectfully asserting your rights, doing so is no guarantee against police misconduct, but showing the police that you know your rights can make them cautious about violating your rights.

Created by Flex Your Rights and narrated by retired ACLU director Ira Glasser, BUSTED realistically depicts the pressure and confusion of common police encounters. In an entertaining and revealing manner, BUSTED illustrates the right and wrong ways to handle different police encounters and pays special attention to demonstrating how you, the viewer, can courteously and confidently refuse police searches.

16 Comments / User Reviews

chocolatestarfish

does anybody know whether under current PATRIOT act provisions you could actually handle the situation as could be seen from the 2nd example @ 10:00 ???

Ghost

The sad truth of the matter is that whether or not it's justified, if an officer wants to search you they're going to search you. "Probable cause" is definitely a grey area when it comes to defining it's meaning, and unfortunately in most cases it's meaning is what ever the officer wants/needs it to mean. They way most police officers mentalities think now is if you try and stand up for your rights or even yourself most officers seem to take that as a direct threat or challenge and more than likely that will cause you even more trouble at the scene. It is a very sad situation and it's only getting worse. We are losing OUR "Bill of Rights" a precious piece at a time and once "We the People" let them destroy it we will lose what it is to be Free.

allan

Ghost

Check out George Carlin's bit, "You Have No Rights". Really makes ya think.

Phil Atio

At best you will be searched by an officer even if you follow this information to a t, and the court will toss out what the officer finds provided it is only drugs and possibly a gun.

The reality is a police officer can do whatever they want in the field and between legal bills and practical time and being arrested and having to wait in jail for court dates, this will not really be useful to most people who are busy.

Cops do not really follow the law they do what they want

milton

in the end; even after the legal bills; if u follow it all it can get you out of being classified as a criminal. Once your a felon you cant even vote.. its worth the time and money to guarantee they dont falsely classify you as a criminal threat to society

InedibleHulk

That first scene makes me glad to be Canadian. Anyone else find that cop reminds them of Tom Green?

Tyler Shipowich

Oh videos like this make me proud not to be an American.. I couldn't imagine going to jail over a joint or two. Thats just ridiculous. If that was Canada the officer would have wrote the speeding ticket and sent us on our way. lolz

Not an Anarchist

IncredibleHulk--I'm Canadian as well. Surely you're not implying something like the first scenario wouldn't happen in Canada? The video is not about drugs and how to get away with possessing them, it's about your rights as a human in either Canada or any of the 50 US States regardless of your circumstance-possessing drugs, speeding, not speeding, not possessing drugs.

It specifically shows the word games and intimidation tactics cops use to trick you into doing something you'd normally never do--waive your right to possess yourself and property and not be subject to unreasonable searches. (habeus corpus, Magna Carta etc.,).

The fact is, if a cop knows you know your rights, they're much less inclined to attempt to strip you of them, but you have to give them wiggle room to extract themselves with their ego intact. If you taunt a cop or display attitude, your asking for trouble and you'll likely get it. Say as little as possible and don't react to questions or comments.

They don't care what you think about something or your answer to a question--they're watching to see how you react. If you don't react--it'll drive them nuts--but it won't viewed as a threat. Do this and you'll be playing the same game they're playing with you--provided, of course, you're dealing with an idiot cop. Most of the time, cops behave themselves.

ez2b12

Where I live if you tried this stuff it would do you no good what so ever. The cops here do what ever they want and the judge backs them. Think you'll take it all the way to the state level, it will not help.

Even at the state level they protect each other. We had federal officers here doing a investigation of the police dept. The local cops started saying the investigation was over and proclaiming their innocents and so did the people at the state level.

The feds came on tv and where like, "NO its not over." They ended up getting about three or four of the cops fired for misconduct, but they will just go right up the road to the next little town and go back to work as a cop again. Every time a cop gets fired here they just go up the road and back to work for the next crooked redneck town. The police from each city in this county work together and protect each other.

We have cops involved in drugs, under age sex, and illegal sales of booze (dry county). I can not wait until I can get back away from this place. I am here taking care of my parents. To be honest I am rerally thinking about leaving this screwed up country all together. I just can not take this crap anymore.

Healer

ez2, that's a really corrupt place. Sounds to me like the police could even plant evidence if somebody didn't cooperate etc etc. In my country, police can bend the law to an extent, but they aren't protected from everything... at least when it's a death in a cell, it's pretty hard to hide it in here. Who really cares if you get thrown into a cell for a few days, or have to pay some fines? Of course nobody likes that, but that's still minor and doesn't get you a record nor real jail time in many countries. This video is good against minor crimes.

If you don't break law here, they don't bother you and they're here to keep order too, that's the good things about them. If you do break the law though, more than just a minor crime you can pass off with a fine, you better know your rights and be prepared or else you can just blame yourself. I can understand that you need to do things to get a living, but the cops won't, all they understand is the law. Don't be disrespectful towards them, they're just people like you and me (absolutely no need to lick their butts tho, maintain your own credibility and self-respect too), don't say anything unnecessary, lie as little as possible, and remember the things you need about the law for your situation.

knowledgeizpower

yeah this was good i agree with you...but i just don't think all 3 were breaking the law the second clip with the young teenager i don't think he broke the law he was being profiled imo...very good points and advice to be taken from viewing this one.... Peace

Alex1389er

damn profiling... A lot of criminals seem to look like me. I'm harassed at least 2 to 4 times a week by police. I never break the law so I'm not worried but it's a pain in the ass when you have to factor in police harassment as a frequently occurring theme when your planning to go somewhere or do something. By the way I'm from Australia and the police here are like a mixture of terminator personality mixed with underachiever army drop out mentality...

Jamie19786

Everything said was good advice,but like they warn police will break the law and your rights.I've seen it done many times with several cops there,and they break the law more than most of the people they arrest.Knowing you rights can only help,but police will break them and lie right on the stand and the courts almost all the time take a cops word over a normal citizen expecially if you've got a criminal recourd.And unless you have proff and not just your word against theres they all stick togeather.Even police that would obey the law will lie for other cops even on the stand when they seen them break the law.They add charges that they could never find you guilty of just to make getting bail harder to get,hoping you will plead guilty as many times you are spending more time in jail to prove your innocent.Police join the force beliving they are going to protect the law only to realize 10 years latter that they are worse criminals then most the people they arrest.I could write a book just on the criminal actions they have done to me starting at about age 13.To the courts unless you have video of cops breaking the law their word is like gold.But useing your rights like shown can only help you instead of hurt you.I have my own temper but police will take any sign of anger as a threat to there authority,and most likely break the law to prove they are they biggest gangsters.I'ts hard but keeping your cool and not letting them make you angry can go a long way.Don't play their game have them play yours.Things keep getting worse in every aspect including illegal wars and on day not if but when there will be a revolution.We just need to set up a much better system were a country our police breaking the law is our any person that breaks the law faces a minimum time in jail if you swore to uphold the law only to break it arresting citizens.I recently came across a great way the next real chance at freedom if the is one before we destroy the hole world because of illegal wars,it's called Wavevolution and sounds great,but it would be very hard with the way we have been lied to for over 4000 years.If you have an open mind cheak it out and share it.I plane on sharing it as much as possible just finnished reading it last night.We have the ability to make everyone equall in this world if we just stop the religious brainwashing and government brainwashing.I belive in GOD,but not a book any book that was wrote by man.But everyone in a perfect world should be able to belive what they chose as long as it don't hurt anyone else.Went of topic a bit but no we need real change because we are slaves to the 1% weather we see it our not.No one should die of stavation our preventable things because of greed our any other reason.Last thing I want to tell people that don't now 25 thousand kids die of starvation every single day because of greed,and so many more from other reasons.It can be fixed but it will take all billions of people that are here and sick of the corruption to finnaly stand up and do everthing nessasary to make the change that will benifit us all and the earth,because this is the only earth we have.I'm 33 and if we don't kill each other with a nucular war we will one day change,but I may not live to see it but are children and there children may.

Glen Hale

You also have the right not to wear a seatbelt so you can kill yourself...makes sense ...NOT

In my 61 years on this earth, many of them as an defense attorney I can say unequivocally police are worse than most of the alleged 'criminals' arrest. The so called war on drugs is really the war on citizens and as a way to steal mostly non-violent citizens assets. I would suggest that most young people move out of country, this one is nothing but a gestapo cesspool run by turds.